Too Many Mods Installed

[CatalystOneFour]

Hello everyone,

 

 

 

I'm Catalyst. I'm a newbie here at Nexus, unfortunately, my first forum post would be a plea for your help rather than something I would rather prefer to do.. :confused:

 

I've been modding for almost my entire gaming history and now I've recently downloaded a huge amount of mods over (150) to be exact.. o_O

 

 

Now, here's where the trouble starts.. I didn't use a mod manager. :wallbash:

 

Yeah, I'm pretty stupid to do that. Up to now, I'm regretting it... :facepalm:

But as we speak, I think regret alone wouldn't do dust, I'm going to enable and disable some of the .esp's in the "Data Files" section. Which will really be a PAIN-IN-THE-ASS. Metaphorically and Literally. :wallbash:

 

So, what I'm asking for you is, vote on the poll, or if you have the time, kindness, knowledge and perseverance to help an idiot, please do.

 

 

What I mean by that, is if you could look at the mods and see if any conflict.

 

 

Problems:

 

1. Some .esp's in the "Data Files" section revert to being unchecked after running TESV then Exiting to Desktop.
2. CTD
3. I think all of this is because I haven't patched to the latest version, I'll do so then tell you if it works.

4. Some weird drunken-like motion when in FP Mode.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've organized my mods into three sections:

:thumbsup:

1. 1. Gameplay
2. 2. Graphics and Sounds
3. 3. Tools

 

 

Here are the contents of the folder with a link to photobucket.

 

 

 

 

Gameplay Mod Folder:

 

http://s1186.photobu...nt=Gameplay.jpg

 

I've also downloaded the Civil Unrest Mod and PISE v.81 u\but were left out in the screenie. :whistling:

 

 

 

 

Graphics & Sounds Folder:

 

http://s1186.photobu...nt=Graphics.jpg

 

 

 

 

Tools:

 

I only have NMM and SKSE 1_4_10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks in advance, help would REALLY be appreciated.

-C14

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

 

I can't seem to restore Skyrim, perhaps I'll just delete everything. May I ask what files should be left untouched in the Data Folder??

Edited February 19, 2012 by CatalystOneFour

[TigerWidow]

Considering you have so many mods that have been installed in an arguably random order trying to untangle everything back into a working state would be more effort than literally starting from the beginning.

 

I would seriously advise getting Wryebash and learning how that works. It is a much better utility than NMM for various reasons, it takes a little while to get your head round but its arguably the only thing you need. You can also set up NMM and Wryebash to 'watch' the same archives and use them in synergy, using NMM to download mods, keep checks on new versions and run any FOMOD scipts, then package the end result file structure into a BAIN ready archive which is automatically dropped into Bash's installers folder to be used within Wryebash's incredibly intelligent installation engine (BAIN).

 

Not only is esp load order integral to mods (and the modded game) working, but so is installation order of the mods you are installing. There is a generally excepted order of installation for the different broad mod categories that should be followed fairly closely inorder to minimize problematic conflicts/priority over-rides. The latest installed mod changing the same resource file will 'win'. (think of how copy/paste works, you copy paste the same named file into the same folder twice, only the second [latest] file will physically be in that folder). The problem being If an ESP or script e.t.c. is trying to refer to a specific resource file that has been altered by another mod beyond recognition, its going to make all kinds of weird things happen within the engine, more often than not returning a bad result from the request and crashing the game.

 

There are exceptions to this rule of course, but the point is, you really need to know what you're doing. Take mod adding slowly and methodically in a non destructive manner (so you can roll back if things go wrong) and really pay close attention to exactly what each mod does, how it effects the other mods and if any conflicts will be problematic or specifically how they will effect the game, as relevant to every mod you add, to which a slow and attentive approach should be taken every single time, or it will inevitably happen that the game is crashing all over the place and you don't know how or where the hell its coming from. Taking things slowly and really getting your head round exactly 'what's going on' under the hood will give you a much larger net to catch problems when they do arise.

 

Of course there is also the other important aspect of not trusting a single mod to be clean and in working order, as is the nature of a modding community, it may not always be your fault, or an error on your part, but that the mod you have installed is full of dirty and/or wild edits or generally badly made and corrupt. this is another large reason for crashes. Bad mods. So you also have to be careful when installing a new mod to ensure that it does what it intends to do, that it doesn't alter anything it's not supposed to and that it is stable enough to work properly. The more unstable a mod is, given any number of potentially unstable mods jumbled together, the exponentially higher risk of crashes and an unstable game.

 

Installation order prioritising ensures that aspects of mods that you want in the game are in the game and that there are no problematic over-rides causing issues in the end result, the idea is to go from Broad game wide changes initially, down to specific alterations, which will over-ride certain aspects of the overall changes. Sometimes it works as intended, sometimes it doesn't and its usually trial and error if not reading up on the mod in question to clue up on compatibility issues.

 

the general flow of installation ordering is as follows:

 

1. Utilities

things like SKSE, Skyboost e.t.c.

 

2. Game tweaks

things that change certain gameplay mechanics, like deadlier sneaking e.t.c.

 

3. New buildings and locations

Self explanatory.

 

4. Official add ons and DLCs

Self explanatory.

 

5. Quest Mods

 

6. New Companion/NPC mods

 

7. Large mesh replacers.

Things like certain addons to Vurts enviromental mods (not to be confused with texture replacers)

 

8. Game Overhauls

 

9. New Items/armour/weapons

 

10. City and World Aesthetics

Something akin to unique landscapes in Oblivion, i don't think anything equivalent has been released in skyrim yet.

11. User interface changes and alterations.

Things like SkyUI e.t.c.

 

12. UI modifying game tweaks/changers

Things that add new spells e.t.c. to the game that will conflict with UI alteration mods, these are installed after so that any UI changing mods will be over written with the files integral to these working.

 

13. Texture replacers

The installation order of this category is very important, not only should they be installed within this stage of the overall flow, but they need to be installed in a specific order in-order to have all the over-rides deliberately set to how you want them, as there is always a lot of overlap with these kinds of mods, choosing in which order you want things done is very important. sometimes certain orders create a lot of instability so a lot of experimentation and reasearch needs to be done in regard to the specific texture mods you are using.

 

14. Other types of replacers.

Things that change smaller textures/meshes. something that adds a glow map to enchanted weapons for example. Needs to over ride any possible texture replacements on weapons installed previously.

 

15. Animation Mods.

 

16. Cosmetic Mods/Body replacers

 

17. Character Texture replacers

 

18. Any of your personal mods that you have made.

 

 

As well as all this, the highest priority in the installation order, above all of this should be archived and packaged backups of any of the original non-standard game files you have over-written, the opening menu movie, original INI files, Original Shaders/Music e.t.c.

 

 

Following this general list rule, along with the overall philosophy of careful, slow and methodical mod integration, a lot of research into each mod, time taken, not to mention use of Wryebash's ability to losslessly install/uninstall any mod at any time in accordance with intended installation order priority and BOSS's automatic ESM/P pluggin ordering, you should backup all of your mods, uninstall Skyrim, re-install a fresh version, update it to the latest patch then turn to your mods and figure out a general installation order. Download Wryebash and NMM to BAIN, read this guide on how to get NMM and Wryebash working together and methodically go through your list adding what you want to while keeping a close track on the overall stability of the game.

 

Its a good idea to take it very slowly, test each mod out, that means not playing but testing the mod using certain console commands to put yourelf in specific cells or times of day, or checking out certain items or gameplay changes, bug test the mods in game to see if everything is ok, then play for a bit, just to make sure, trying to stay around abouts the area of gameplay that the mod most effects to get a feel for wether its actually working as intended or not. Then move on to the next mod, you can take this in steps of course sometimes you can add a few mods at a time and check them out but then there is a higher chance of something going wrong and you not being to sure about whats caused it. Sometimes you have to ditch mods because they simply won't work with your set up or don't work well in general, in wich case you might want to contact the creator and explain the issue you have come across and see if they are willing to create a fix.

 

All in all I hope this has given you something to work on in getting your game set up how you want it. If you need any more info on anything just ask and I'll say what i can. Peace.

[scrivener07]

Wrye Bash. I could not survive without